Return to the Arcane
by DreadingTheDayWhenYou'reGone
Summary: Saloris lived the majority of her life in seek of knowledge. Halla spent the majority of her life in search of a place where she felt like she was at home. Heather spent the majority of her life aware that there were other people in her mind that controlled her magic, and she was always taught to be aware. All of these mages, and more, are made of the same mind and soul.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! Glad you opened this! I had a dream about traveling immortality/knowledge and came up with this, because the dream was based in WoW and I missed the world. Unfortunately, I do not play anymore, and some things are a little out of touch for me! However, one of my coworkers has answered the majority of my questions about lore and such. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask away! I am hoping to update pretty frequently, as I have one other chapter already finished, but we will see how things go. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any World of Warcraft properties or characters. I am solely here to use the established world for my story. Thanks for checking me out. **

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Saloris loved living in Dalaran, mostly because it provided a lot of free time for her, and a lot of things to explore, especially with the city's abundance of portals and all the portal spells Saloris had learned. Even with her job in one of the many potion libraries that the Violet Citadel had to offer, she still had a lot of free time to explore and organize and read about what other mages before her had done. She loved it there, especially because she wasn't judged by where she came from or for her companion pet of Aki, a purple manta ray that oftentimes clung to her bare chest underneath her robes, or floated around her with happy little blurbs coming from his mouth.

There was access to any type of arcane knowledge all around Saloris. She had time to expand knowledge she didn't know, as well as to fight if the Kirin Tor required it. Being part of the Kirin Tor meant peacekeeping, whether it was monthly rounds as a guard in the city, or sent to one of the fighting areas where Saloris's knowledge of the arcane was needed. But, she always returned home safe and with more stories to share, at least, so far.

Beyond that, the Archmages left the majority of the undermages on their own. As long as they showed up to their shifts as a guard, as well as wrote down any findings they discovered, they were free to let their hands and minds and magic wonder - at least, to a degree. Some things, such as necromancy, were extremely against the Kirin Tor law, and resulted in punishment. Mostly expulsion from the Kirin Tor ranks and banished from Dalaran altogether, stripped of all the work you put in and starting from scratch.

However, that was not something Saloris needed to worry about, especially since she spent most of her time in the alchemy section and working with transmuting minerals, boiling and listening to the chemicals all around her. It was peaceful, especially because she made some of the best mana restoring potions that came out of the Kirin Tor's personal storage for battle and questing.

Right now, Saloris's main project was decoding where another alchemist had gone wrong with an elixir for immortality. He had a lot of different ingredients listed, but hadn't been successful. He died, obviously, meaning whatever he had taken was not the right combination, or any of the other elixirs hadn't worked. She spent hours pouring over his research journals (dusty and on a high shelf), knowing that if he had had all the elixirs he made, they didn't work.

So she started somewhere new. Or combinations the other unnamed alchemist hadn't tried yet. The main ingredient she wanted to use, but was too timid to ask the ingredient master for, was a Phoenix feather. Phoenixes represent rebirth, rejuvenating and fire. They were beautiful and everlasting. The feather checked many of the requirements that Saloris believed was essential for the potion, but it was too rare for Saloris to use for every attempt, and she didn't want to pester the other mage for too many. She would be found out if that were the case, and she liked keeping her failed attempts a secret until she came up with something glorious.

The young mage never took her Philosopher's Stone out of the cauldron, as that was one of the important catalysts for any transmuting potion, or anything involving the giving of life. The alchemist before her had already tried a few different combinations of what it took to make a potion for health, which was easily the dumbest thing he could have done. When Saloris had read that section of the notes, very close to the beginning of the journals, she scuffed aloud at his density. If it was easy as making a potion of healing with the best ingredients, this mage would have already made it.

Saloris had already tried mixing the essence and the crystallized versions of the elements, as she believed heavily in the idea the author had that immortality was linked to the elements, the base of what makes the worlds, and had believed some form of this was to be used in the alchemy process.

Phoenix feather, in theory, was related to fire. She could assume the Philosopher's Stone made up the earth category, but going with that meant omitting something such as liferoot, straight from the ground. But having more than four ingredients could have detrimental effects to Saloris's potion. She hadn't even thought about how to test if the elixir would actually work. Would she immediately feel immortal? Or would she know if she hadn't come down with an illness that was easily contracted to her? How would she know if she had gained immortality?

Furthermore, she continued to think on her guard duty the next day, what if the original author _had, _somehow, found the right combination of ingredients and was alive, now, however many centuries later? It could be a secret, like the Kirin Tor was for many many years. Would there be any confirmation if she quickly healed after battle? Would she realize, despite her lineage, that she was not aging? Elves notoriously lived for long periods of time. Could her heritage bring something different to the elixir? If the original author had been a human, they lived for short spans of times, and they did not have the stamina or the mana that the elves had. Would her blood and body bring another criteria to the table that Saloris was unaware of?

"Saloris, you're not even listening, are you?" her guard mate said, waving a hand quickly in front of her face. He was Draenei and only a head or so taller than Saloris. Muas always smiled, despite the slow moving tendrils that reached toward his burly chest. He was fun to be around, and Saloris was often happy to join him for drinks after their shifts.

"Only partly," Saloris replied, grinning back at him. While Muas hardly practiced Saloris's favored alchemy, he knew the look of thought in her bright eyes and how certain combinations irked her if she couldn't get it right.

"Is it that new mage in your library section again?" Muas joked, jostling her arm with his elbow. "I keep my mouth shut on all forms of romantic interest, unless it is better for me to speak."

"You always think it's better for you to speak."

He laughed a bellowing laugh, echoing off the streets and causing Saloris to shift uncomfortably at the eyes of city dwellers as they looked on at the large man.

"Plus, you know I don't work in the library anymore. I'm back in the research labs."

"They granted you permission again? What a thought."

"You're rude to me, Muas. You're rude as you can be."

"It's okay. I'll buy you a drink tonight so you forget all about my rudeness," Muas said, winking and nudging her suggestively.

"We're not sleeping together again. I have too much on my mind. Plus, you don't like Aki."

"_He _doesn't like me!" Muas said, as if Saloris had hurt his honor in some way with her comment. "He bit me last time we were alone."

"You're not nice to him, is all. Just give him some fish and he'd like you. Or you know, be a little kinder to him and me."

"I'm not mean to you!" Muas stopped speaking for a minute as a group of undead mages passed. "Wait, am I mean to you?"

"It depends on the context, but sometimes you don't know when to be gentle."

"I thought you liked it rou-"

"We're not having this conversation right now, Muas. Or ever again. Especially since you're supposed to be doing your rounds while I stand here and guard this district."

"Saloris-" The shorter mage held up her hand, quieting his attempts to defend himself.

"No, Muas. Go." Saloris was quite done with Muas's insistent desire to talk on guard duty, especially as she was preoccupied with the elixir. She never really wanted to get attached to the man anyway, or anyone in general. So Muas's constant attempts to come on to her had gotten a little annoying, especially in the light of the journal and her search for the elixir of immortality. She had wanted it because Muas was easy, in the sense that he already liked Saloris. But beyond that, she could feel his emotions radiating off him like the sun. Sex was easy. Emotions caused a lot of mental blockage that she didn't have the time for.

Saloris wasn't tired after her shift with Muas, and she didn't want to join him for drinks at the Purple Parlor. So she went back to her lab station, where a few other mages were burning the midnight oil on their own projects. They were in their own minds, and only the quiet murmuring to themselves and the rolling of their liquids was there. It was just as Saloris liked it. No one needed to ask her for a new mana potion, or to help them with something, or to bug her with idle talk.

There were a lot of things Saloris hadn't tried yet, and, so far, nothing had killed her. And nothing had outwardly changed her; inwardly, she did not know. Saloris scratched the skin on her arm, thinking and wondering what could satisfy the requirements of water and air, or if there was, really, a fifth ingredient like the other mage had thought. However, he never went beyond thinking about the fifth element, so that left a lot of room for Saloris to interpret, which is something she was very good at. Mixing ingredients and metals and roots and flowers and herbs and hoping they wouldn't kill the test subjects. Except she was her own test subject now. This was her own project. No other people included.

Saloris sat down roughly on her working stool and laid her own journal for the project down in front of her, pulling the mystery author's last book from the shelf laid into the side of her work table, and flipped to where she left off. She wrote in Thalassian, her native language, but the author had written in Common, meaning he could be literally any mage race with access to the labs of Dalaran.

Saloris's ultimate goal wasn't to find out who had written the book, but was to find the other two (or more) ingredients that could produce the immortality results. Saloris grabbed a quill and her inkwell and started to make another column, desperately thinking of the stock room's ingredients and what they were used for. Thinking water was aplenty, so should be the ingredients used for the water category, or, at least, something near water. Would the uses for the ingredients matter? Or was it the end combination that mattered?

In case it was a mixture of both, that the ingredients did matter and that the end result could still kill, the alchemist avoided the usage of scorpion poison, hellhound spit, or any of the deadly ingredients the mages had stored. Furthermore, she looked at the ingredients that grew near lakes, ponds, seas, oceans, and moved them into categories. She liked the romantic ideals that Sea Stalk used, despite not liking the ideas of romance herself. Saloris underlined this as a possible ingredient and moved forward with air. Which was hard. Was air not already it's own category? Could she just blow on the ingredients mixed together and have that as it was? Or was it like water? Saloris had decided water, in and of itself was _not _an ingredient, despite water being abundant. The same could be said for all the other ingredients. The base wasn't enough, especially since this had already been tested. It had to be _more. _

When you thought of air, what else did you think of? When you close your eyes, as Saloris did while she thought now, and the breeze ruffles your robe sleeves, rustling your black hair against your cheeks and ears, bringing the sounds and smells of the market at Silvermoon, or of the sounds of Orgrimmar and the shouts and howls of the animals you encountered in the wild, isn't that air? Doesn't that count? The very essence of living with the wind and the world and everything the breeze brought to your nose.

A thought drifted in Saloris's mind, that the elixir was based on the person that took it, that it wasn't some special formula that could make everyone immortal. She laughed aloud at her own thoughts, giggling despite the serious tone of the laboratory. Saloris stood up, looking down to avoid her lab mates, and walked to the expansive ingredient store. If she could not think of her own use for the air category, she would stand in front of the endless supply of herbs and flowers and rocks and hope one said _air this is it! _

That was two weeks ago. Saloris had yet to figure out anything obvious for the final element. Wun'zaz, a troll that watched over some of the harder to come by ingredients, had laughed at her countless times since Saloris had brought her stool with her. She gave him no explanation as she wrote in her notebook, and stared, constantly adrift in thoughts that would not give her the right ingredient. Saloris only glared at him, knowing she could not explain her search or what had put her in this stump.

Her mind drifted back to smells, to things that blew in the wind, rather than items that involved the essence of air and wind. This caused her to start again, her fourth time around. She only had four days time until she was to be deployed to another mission in regards to Azerite and the continued disputes over land and minerals. Saloris did not have the _time _for this, to think and have to leave so soon. She was frustrated, and nothing was popping out for her.

"This is dumb, Azeroth have mercy on me!" she mumbled, standing up and walking through aisles and looking at jars and packets filled with ingredients. Her mind was still running with complicated formulas and the deployment she had coming up. If Azerite was the lifeblood of the world, what was the breath? "When we smell the sweetness on the wind, the fire in the distance, the first and last breath on the air, what is it?"

Saloris halted quickly. Something she had been thinking had turned her mind, had expanded it to look at everything. Or, most likely, it was because she had stopped right in front of Starlight Rose, a sweet smelling flower that erupted into dust if not handled correctly. If the wind blew too hard, then the flower erupted into dust, and went with the wind.

"Oh," Saloris whispered, grasping the jar in front of her. "This makes a lot of sense. You can't _capture _air. That would be too easy. But the rose is the smell of something, is the dust in the wind, is the definition of air!" Saloris was glad that it was late and that many of the other mages had already left; her mumbling throughout the storerooms had increased, making her sound like a raving maniac. Maybe it was good that she had the mission coming up. It would allow her to take her mind off everything.

Once back at her work station, Saloris crossed out all the other options for air, and doodled a small blue rose in the bottom corner. She would go to Wun'zaz in the morning to ask for a Phoenix Feather. She had the Sea Stalk for water as well, already stored in a jar. She wouldn't have time to account for the earth category, and it would definitely have to wait until after the expedition. Saloris would bring all the ingredients, the journal, and her own notebook with her. She trusted the other mages, but this felt too big to leave in the safety of her drawer. What if she figured out the last category while away?

* * *

Aki acted nervous the entire Wyvern flight over. He kept biting Saloris's chest, making a soft screeching noise, and flying around, despite Saloris's fast pace aboard the Wyvern. They were flying in formation, as a group, towards Tiragarde Sound, and Saloris had to keep grabbing at him to keep him from being lost to the wind. Even if Aki had flown away with the wind, he had an innate ability to find her, no matter where she went. She was worried about him being lost, or if he was injured during his own explorations. Muas and some of the other mages kept joking with her, saying she was more concerned with her pet than with where they were flying. It took all of Saloris's will to keep from blasting Muas off his mount and into the air below.

There was a mixture of Horde and Alliance among the group. When they landed outside of Tiragarde Sound, they would split up for negotiations and compromises. Most of the altercations involving Azerite had turned out fine after the Kirin Tor showed up, but it was always best to be prepared in case things turned sour. The Horde and the Alliance were often quick to point fingers, and things could turn nasty quickly. In those cases, it was advised that the mages put up defense spells to try to ease tensions. They were peacekeeping, mostly, and couldn't pick sides, no matter who started the fight, but they could still kill, could fight against those that were starting the battle. In this case, it was most likely the Horde, and they could open fire as long as they were not the first to draw.

The Horde definitely started this incursion against Tiragarde Sound, and this was the third deployment to the area. The Kirin Tor had sent multiple groups of mages to the area to keep the mana flowing to keep an all out battle from starting, but the Horde were consistent in wanting more Azerite, in wanting more of the metal and the life blood of the planet. Both sides were greedy, and each wanted it as much as the other. But they kept fighting over something that could be depleted, over something that had intense destructive and intense healing properties. Saloris wasn't a negotiator and was only there if a battle broke out, meant to defend and ease the tensions with magic rather than with words.

Saloris didn't hate flying, but she was exhausted by the time they finally landed outside of Tiragarde Sound. Aki had left immediately, fluttering off to look around, his curiosity a strong trait that would cause Saloris to smile if she wasn't so nervous. While she wasn't a direct part of the negotiations, she still had to stay at attention and look around. This meant she would go into the mines to make sure no one was actively working when they shouldn't be, whether it be Horde or Alliance. Because of the active talks going on above ground, people thought it would be easy to slip in and out and continue to mine for the precious metal.

A few of the other Horde Kirin Tor followed into the mines, each taking separate branches and spreading out. It was eerily quiet, which was a good sign. If there were noises like clattering and mining and grunts, that would mean the Goblins and Orcs or Dwarves and Gnomes were hard at work. Mining was not a silent job, Saloris knew that much. It was soothing to be so far underground at times, surrounded by silence and the earth and all that Azeroth had to offer. Well, she would be soothed if it wasn't under the current situation, with tensions high and the light from the palm of her hand creating dancing shadows. The light glanced off the ores that were still lodged in the ground and created sharp edges against the walls. Saloris let her free hand out to touch a part of the ore, and understanding overflowed her mind.

Saloris's mind was still on her potion for immortality, and something she had thought while looking for the air ingredient came back to her. She paused in her search and rummaged through her bags, looking for the four items she already had - Phoenix Feather, Sea Stalk, her Philosopher Stone, Starlight Rose. Azerite was the lifeblood of the planet - Azerite was a mineral - Azerite was _earth_.

"Oh," Saloris said aloud, looking around for anyone that could hear her. She had never stolen before - she wasn't a common thief. But if she could get her hands on some of the liquid form of Azerite, her potion would be complete. The vein of ore she was following now was all solid, but the more she walked down the path and down towards the center, the air became warmer, thicker, more alive.

Saloris knew a little about Azerite and its properties, especially how it could heighten comprehension and understanding, just as she had felt when her hand touched the stone. Wouldn't the liquid form be just as potent? _What if I just take a small amount of the solid form and heat it? I already have to boil all the other ingredients together, and boiling the Azerite might congeal everything into a liquid?_

Saloris nodded to herself, turning back around and keeping her gaze on the ground of loose stones. There were no miners left down here, and she knew she had wasted time by turning towards the deeper sections. Would she get in trouble? Would they find out about her plan and potion? She shook her head, bending down to pick up a small chunk of Azerite the miners must have missed. The amber glowed against the light in her hand, and her mind became clear again. "Melting it is the right choice," she whispered, knowing what she had to do now. Her next break was soon after the sun fell, after everyone had come back from the mines and the first shift of guarding them started. She could do that during her break, and then go back to her rounds afterwards. "Yes, yes. I know what to do."

Holding that stone then, Saloris's whole world and future became clear. She understood exactly what she was doing, what needed to be done, and she knew how to do everything.

That same night, in the solitude of her own tent, Saloris put a small pot above her fire and slowly added all her ingredients, ending with the chunk of Azerite. At one point, Muas showed up, asking about drinks and night together, despite Saloris's sudden distaste for him. Aki had shown up at some point, nestling close to Saloris's chest, and Muas retracted his offer quickly. Saloris wondered if Miss had seen her pot of ingredients or only had eyes on her body. Would he question her about what she was making?

The Blood Elf watched as the metal melted, turning everything into a thick shade of gold, and watched as it reacted to each of the ingredients. It looked like the Azerite had actually melted her Philosopher's Stone, meaning she would have to get a new one, but the ingredients seemed to blend together on their own without any help from her. No stirring, no chanting, no magic added from Saloris. The Azerite was the secret ingredient that she needed, the lifeblood of the world, the lifeblood of the potion.

Slowly, Saloris removed the pot and quickly poured the majority of it into a small cup. Azerite cooled quickly, and it wouldn't be edible past its liquid stage. She had no concerns about consuming the metal in this stage - she had already questioned that and the stone had given her clarity. It was dangerous, but she would live. Aki was making a frantic sort of noise above her, but she waved him off, focusing on the drink. _Am I making the right choice? Is this the right thing to do? _

Saloris shrugged and chugged the drink, body filling with warmth and intelligence and magic and the belief that she understood everything, that her mind was hyper-focused suddenly. All the reports of Azerite were true. She knew that the mage before her, the one that started this process, had not been successful. He hadn't mentioned Azerite anywhere in his research, hadn't considered the benefits of the metal, all that it had to offer in a potion.

Saloris felt strong until Aki bit her hand, and she came out of her hyper-focus. There were noises outside of her tent, something like an argument. Saloris knew without actually knowing that the negotiations were going wrong, and the ringing of a bell in the middle of the Kirin Tor camp signified that. Everyone was to be ready, for the Horde and the Alliance were actually fighting. Saloris rubbed her hand and glared at Aki before grabbing her wooden stave and stepping outside, mind full of too many things for her to actually take in the majority of the information.

Aki stayed inside the tent, as he was not one for actual fighting. Saloris followed the other mages, accidentally bumping into a tipsy Muas who said something she couldn't hear. From a distance, it seemed that a small group of Horde miners - a few Orcs and a Goblin or two - had made it past the guards outside of the mines while others were actively fighting the Kirin Tor. A few arrows shot passed Saloris's head, and she became aware of the severity of the situation. The Horde had opened fire on the Alliance and the Kirin Tor, viewing both as opposition, and the Kirin Tor, were placing a bunch of defense spells and trying to keep the damage to a minimum. But they were also shooting at the Horde, because they had started this.

Some part of Saloris's brain clicked, understanding that, while the Kirin Tor were peacekeeping, they still had to fight. You pick and choose your battles, and the Kirin Tor were careful to an extent. Sometimes you had to shoot a few offensive spells in order for them to get it, that the Kirin Tor did mean business. Saloris watched as different shades of blue and red and purple shot across the battlefield, each erupting into different pools of magic with varying effects. A Tauren was fighting off an encasing of frost that had taken his legs and the majority of his torso. Another Goblin was patting herself out from the flames that caught his trousers.

An arrow shot through the night and caught Saloris in her thigh, sending pain throughout her body. Saloris gritted her teeth and stepped forward, snapping the shaft of the arrow so it did not imbed her spellcasting. Muas looked over at her and glared at the arrowhead lodged in her thigh, mouth open to say something about the medic tent. But she was already ahead of him, already stepping forward and hands surrounded by purple, words flowing from her mouth as she moved forward. Muas knew Saloris was quick to anger, quick to want to be in the midst of battle, but there was something new and different around her, something more powerful than what Muas knew about her.

The arcane magic flew from her fingers, and she kept casting, bringing forth more spells that Muas did not think she knew at this point. True, Saloris worked in the spell library for some time, but this was different. This was as if she was taped directly to the pulse of magic, of the arcane. "Magic is corrupting," he muttered, watching as she stepped closer to the battle. Mages were light, mages didn't move toward the centers, mages casted from the sidelines. _What is she doing?_ he asked himself, in awe of his friend. Corrupting happened slowly, and this was sudden, this was new, this was as if she was surrounded by the lifeblood of the world, aware of everything. The dark purple aura of the arcane flowed around her as Saloris continued to cast spells, unaware of anything except the battle.

He watched as another arrow caught her in the shoulder, but she did not cease her movements or spells. Getting hit like that should have caused an interruption, should have caused her to stagger somewhat in her ministrations. Saloris continued to put down spells, hitting different Horde members that were not part of the Kirin Tor. Muas made no move to join the fight, instead watching as more people kept going to take down Saloris and she cut them down quickly, without a care in the world. Her eyes were a deep purple, the same as the aura around her. Something had happened to Saloris while Muas wasn't watching, and he didn't know what. But he watched her anyway, in awe, like the majority of the other mages that were fighting.

Muas looked on as she continued to be hit with arrow after arrow until a Troll, tall and lanky and wielding a double-sided battle axe, arrived, clearly aware of the damage Saloris had already started, already created with her anger and her magic. He approached from behind, in her blind spot. She turned too slowly, purple aura turning with her, a spell on her lips, as the axe swung down and caught her neck, instantly taking the fight out of her. Muas cried out, aware that, no matter what, this was the end of the battle. He watched as the purple aura around her and the color in her eyes faded away, joining the air and the wind. He heard a screech come back from the Kirin Tor tents, a noise he knew to belong to Aki. Muas looked back, watching as the manta ray took flight and disappeared in the night.

After that, after the fall of Saloris, the world became quiet. Everyone had stopped fighting as her blood merged back with the earth.


	2. Chapter 2

**It's been a while. In my defense, my depression said to hell with everything. So I hope you enjoy this.**

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Halla awoke with a start, drenched in sweat from a dream she could only remember fleeting moments of. An amber looking stone that unlocked knowledge, a deep purple aura at the edge of her vision, the bite of something sharp on her hand. Halla rubbed her dark blue left hand in a daze where a constellation of scars sat, like a row of teeth etched into her hand, light blue against her otherwise clear skin.

Those scars had been there as long as she could remember, from Azuremyst Isle all the way to Shattrath City, but she could never remember beyond the dream how she had gotten them. Maybe they were birthmarks. Some of the human travelers always told her stupid stories about birthmarks, about how they might be the way that you died in a past life. Considering the majority of the humans were drunk by the time they told her about her birthmarks, she couldn't accept the validity of the information. Drunk and in her bed, showing off their own birthmarks and laughing some terrible joke.

Speaking of drunks, Halla remembered her shift at the tavern started soon, judging by the length of the candle in her room. She jolted up and moved to a small table near the corner of the room. She rented a room in the inn until she felt like it was time to move on, find a new city and a new tavern to work in, or maybe continue questing, which provided an income between cities. Halla summoned refreshments as she began dressing, moving her hair and tendrils back to look less messy. She rubbed her hand again, as if it pained her. It was only really in the aftermath of those bad dreams that she realized the scars were weird, that they were something else entirely.

Halla ate quickly, aware that it was almost time to go. If she was late, then Zephyr would leave without a relief for the portal to Cavern of Time. If Halla was late, then Zephyr would leave and yell at her the next time she was actually on time. Halla was all the way at Aldor Rise and needed to make it to the Lower City quickly if she were to be on time, plus they had a comedian scheduled tonight too. Zephyr was going to kill Halla no matter what.

Being in Shattrath City for over a year, Halla assumed she would have the hang of maneuvering the streets without help. She knew the general way to the World's End Tavern, but going to the bank or any of the vendors required help if she was in a rush. If she took the wrong path, she was doomed to arrive late. Halla took a chance and started blinking forward, jumping through the crowds quicker than just running, watching each time candle carefully to avoid being too late.

The lift down to the Lower City was the worst, especially as it filled up with more refugees that smelled bad, like they hadn't taken a visit to a bathhouse since they had arrived. Halla was shoved this way at that, wary of the edge of the lift that led to certain doom. Her foot tapped quickly, and she hated herself for being so poor at time management. Some deep part of her brain pulled up a portal request and it was specific. Some part of her brain wanted her to create a portal to the tavern, and not to the portal center of the city. Halla shook her head, and her hand hurt worse, as if ignoring the request was the cause of the pain. Halla stared hard at the shaft of light that erupted from the heart of the city, forcing her mind to focus on something other than her hand, on the desire of her brain that was not her own.

Finally, the lift arrived at the Lower City, and Halla brushed the intrusion out of her mind. It happened often, these requests to use magic in ways that she hadn't been trained or taught. The majority of the time, she ignored them. She feared corruption, naturally, as a Draenei. Her home planet was corrupted, and Azuremyst Isle was being corrupted slowly by all the alien technology they brought with them when they landed. So the intrusive thoughts were ignored, as advised by the mage tutors back at Exodar, and Halla never brought them up to anyone. She'd be committed for insanity, for corruption. Plus, mages always had to fear the corruption of arcane, of the pull of the addictive and powerful magic. Halla did not want to become corrupted, to become something her peers feared. Halla just wanted to live her life.

Halla arrived at the World's End Tavern just as Zephyr was leaving. In fact, she bumped into Zephyr at the door. Zephyr grunted, and that was the end of it. As long as Zephyr saw Halla arriving before she went home, or wherever she went, there were no hard feelings. Zephyr was gambling with Halla - Halla wasn't even a Keeper of Time, not officially, but Halla had a knack for portals and other kinds of magic. Zephyr knew this, and she wanted some time off from the tavern anyway. That was where Halla came in, there to help out the tavern with the flow of refugees and drunks and to send anyone to the Caverns of Time, if they were willing. She worked as a bartender from time to time, especially since there were so many refugees and people down on their luck and looking to drink. The desire to go to the Caverns of Time wasn't at its highest, since there were so many other things going on in the world. So she bartended, and she helped drunks out of the doors, and sometimes she slept with the nicer of the people there, mostly humans, because, unfortunately, she had a type. And that type was the group of people that lived the shortest period of time, and they were so small, and so funny, and so full of themselves. Halla liked that she was romantic towards a race, that she had desires and wants and that she wanted to fall in love, but being mysterious and being with a traveler was easier. She liked both sides of the coin.

Halla waved at Kylene, the other bartender and Blood Elf cook. She liked working with the girl; she was humorous and provided a reprieve from all the unfamiliar faces in Shattrath City. Halla took her place behind the bar, immediately pouring a glass of wine for a female Orc, who walked back over to a table. Kylene took the tables and helped anyone, acting more as a server than an actual bartender, but she still poured drinks and whipped up some good food. Halla took anyone coming to the bar and helped Kylene pour drinks and dealt with unruly customers. It helped that Halla was taller than Kylene, and that she had hooves for feet and could damage people easier. Kylene was a little timid when it came towards people crossing a line, and Halla had no qualms with kicking people out.

As the day progressed, the comedian, Perry Gatner showed up, and the bar filled up. The work day for most people was ending, and they wanted to wind down with a drink or two, which was okay. Perry Gatner pulled in more people with his terrible impersonations and jokes, meaning more business for the bar. One of the socialites, Haris Pilton was too airheaded to actually get the guy's jokes, and constantly made Halla laugh at her absurdity. Halla liked Perry enough, being human and all, but she had a strict no sleep with coworkers rule, even if they were some comedian who came once a week, which extended to the Elite Tauren Chieftains in their entirety.

Easy enough to ignore the five of them, plus Perry. Harder still to avoid the human that was sitting at the bar now, to her left. He was on his second Sargeras Sangria, and his skin was deathly pale. He made a lot of the other patrons wary, and Halla kept him in her peripheral out of curiosity. She could see the red colored runes on both of his swords, and she knew why the other guests were concerned. He was a Death Knight, a group almost completely devoid of emotion, a harbinger of death and decay and disease. Halla had met a few Death Knights before, but she hadn't interacted with them as much as other races, especially in Shattrath City. _Why is he here? What is he doing?_ Halla asked herself, making another drink as she watched him gaze into the dredges of his own drink.

Normally fine, Halla felt her anxiety rising, her blood turning cold as he waved her over. "Bartender, can I get a Jug of Bourbon please? This house brew is not doing enough for me," he said.

"You can call me Halla," she said suddenly, as she always did to people who called her bartender. "Halla is fine, please."

"And I am Alden," the Death Knight said upon receiving and paying for his jug. "Thank you."

She kept him at the edge of her vision throughout the night, but he just continued to nurse drink after drink, slowly moving into a state of drunkenness. _He must be hard to out drink_, _as the effects of alcohol worked slowly on him. Must be an undead thing,_ Halla thought.

Alden left just before Halla's shift was over, riding out on his Deathcharger. He tipped both Kylene and Halla before departing, even when Kylene only spoke to him briefly. Zephyr returned on time, unlike Halla's arrival that day. Before Halla left for the day, she was wiping some of the counters and helping Zephyr by washing some of the cups. Kylene was leaning against the bar and speaking with her, idly chatting now that the day had slowed. Kylene said, "That guy is still technically a human. You should ask him out next time."

"Technically a human doesn't mean he works like a human," Halla commented, not looking at the cook.

"You never know until you ask. Plus, I think he noticed you staring at him."

"He had like six strong drinks and could still ride straight, Kylene. Any man like that has got some thick blood."

"He probably has some strong blood then, if you know what I mean."

"Oh, shut up."

On her way back to the inn in Aldor Rise, Halla stopped by the bank in the Terrace of Light, wandering until finally arriving at the Aldor bank in the northwest. If she wasn't in a hurry, like being late for work, she didn't have to rush, and she kept her items well guarded in the seedier sections of town. There really were a lot of refugees from much of Outland, and Halla doubted that Shattrath would never not be crowded, not until the Burning Legion fell. She deposited her tips and daily pay into the bank, making sure she still had enough for a meal or two before she started working again. Being a mage meant she could conjure some food items, but the smells of the vendors could entice her to pay for some meat, cooked to tenderness and perfection.

Halla did not love or hate Shattrath, but her place in the inn at Aldor Rise was enough of a home for her. It allowed her freedom, individuality, and all that she could desire, especially while working at the tavern. Halla smiled to herself as she made her way into bed that night. She opened a window for a nice breeze and changed herself into her night clothes.

Again, Halla was plagued by her dream, the one where she could only remember small parts. However, that night, the thing that bit her was more prominent. A purple manta ray, with small markings across its back, and she could hear a faint voice say its name, over and over again. Halla awoke, once again, to a sharp pain on her hand. Except, this time, there was something with its teeth sank into her hand, right where the scars were. "Aki!" Halla yelled as the thing flew back, cooing at her as if it knew who she was and was just greeting her.

He, because Aki was a boy with Saloris and was still the same pet as before, even if Saloris was now a completely different person and race, rubbed against her face and made some soft noise inside himself. Halla growled but didn't push him away. The same part of her brain that urged her to portal to the tavern was welcoming this . . . this thing like it was a long lost friend. Which it was. The same part of her brain that knew spells that Halla had never been taught before knew this manta ray, and recognized it, and loved it. That part of her brain missed and longed for his company, and it made Halla trust him, trust whatever he was and whatever he stood for.

Halla laughed out loud, aware that this was absurd, whatever was going on. It had taken years, but Aki had found her, just as Saloris knew he would, no matter where she was. Halla sighed and leaned back against her pillows as Aki wormed his way against her heart, warm and relaxing. Halla had the day off from the tavern and returned to sleep after her abrupt awakening. She did not have the recurring dream for the first time in weeks, and Halla was soothed by whatever comfort Aki held, even if he was not hers. He belonged with her, and she did not question it.

The next few days, Halla allowed Aki to go to work with her, nestled against her tunic and robes, flying off whenever he pleased. She answered the majority of the questions about him doggedly, as she did not know the answers to them herself. Halla continued to be attracted to whatever Alden was, for whatever reason, and he asked her a lot of questions too, and not just about Aki. At one point, Alden had disappeared for two weeks, and Halla was hesitant to ask him upon his return where he went. Halla assumed that he was a traveler, that he used quests and ran errands for money. She never knew anything beyond that, until she asked him about his absence.

"Death Knights are often filled with this addictive desire to kill," Alden said nonchalantly, biting into a haunch of meat. "It's called the 'eternal hunger'." He smiled then, and Halla shivered, wanting to step back from the bar and run. Her desire to be with Alden disappeared with his absence, and it was murdered by the information he gave her for his goings. "If we don't inflict pain, we feel pain, agony, terrible things. We can't feel other emotions, like happiness, or regret, or whatever else people feel. But we can feel pain, and agony, and we are constantly hungry to inflict pain on others. We feed off it. The pain of our death and our decay and our diseases bring."

Haris Pilton, the socialite, had been sitting at the bar for the majority of the conversation. She sputtered up her glass of wine and said, "Haha, you're kidding. Right?"

Halla glared at her and said, "No. I don't think he is."

Alden laughed, and it held no emotions suddenly. "No, I am not. And I am in pain now." Haris blanched and picked up her dog, grabbed her bag, and left.

Halla had both hands on the bar, knuckles white, face stern. "Alden," she said, suddenly very serious. "Alden, I think you should leave." Some of the other patrons who were waiting on the Elite Tauren Chieftains to finish setting up and start playing were looking at the Death Knight with hands on their weapons or ready to leave. The World's End Tavern was a place of rest, for those who were trying to make their way in a new city, who had lost everything to death and destruction out in the Outlands. Alden's presence there, and his sudden desire to kill, was bad. Bad for a lot of reasons. Halla did not want to deal with another bar fight this week.

Alden quirked his head at her, hand on one of his swords. "Why?"

"I am in charge tonight here, Shaarubo is off. You are no longer welcome here." Unbeknownst to Halla, her eyes began to glow the deep purple of her dreams. One of the other patrons muttered something about this, about arcane corruption, and Halla glared at him before returning her gaze to Alden. "You must leave now, or I will force you out."

Alden laughed and said, "I hunger for a good fight as well. But, no matter the result, you have not seen the last of me."

"Here, in this tavern, you will not set foot in again. Not while I work here."

Alden stood, barstool scratching against the floor and making the only noise in the whole bar. He held his hands up and away from his runeforged blades. "I will not return here, but you have not seen the last of me, Halla."

Alden was true to his promise. As long as Halla was on shift, she did not see him. Shaarubo, her boss, as well as Zephyr and Kylene told her he wasn't welcome either, and that they hadn't seen him. Hearing this comforted Halla, at least while she was at work. When she had days off, or when she wandered the city after work, she felt like someone was following her. Halla knew without actually knowing that it was Alden, that he was keeping his whole promise. That Halla still had not seen the last of him. Even when she blinked forward, or created a portal out of desperation, she could still see him. His black hair and his pale face and his red runeforged swords and his Deathcharger.

Halla made sure to lock her door at the inn each night, and she would close her window every night if Aki was already home, and she would sleep with a small dagger clutched in her hand, ready to stab if the need arose. She never knew why he was following her, why he took vengeance out on her, or what he wanted. Was it because Halla kicked him out for frightening other guests, the guests that were looking for safety amongst all the horrors the land outside of Shattrath City had to offer? Was it because he had that 'eternal hunger' and he was currently craving Halla the Draenei? Or was it just some twisted, dead part of his brain that could not forgive?

Halla's dreams about the amber colored stone stopped, but they were constantly driven by fear. Whenever Halla looked in a mirror, she could see a faint dark purple glow around her. It was the arcane, something to do with her being a mage, but Halla still feared corruption more than anything else. Halla continued to think about spells she had never been taught before, spells in other schools of magic, like the arcane and fire. She had chosen the path of frost, and hadn't thought anything about the other two. But now she knew how to light the fire with a flick of her finger, and she always had a knack for creating portals and teleporting places, even though she had not chosen the arcane path.

There were too many things happening for her to focus on anything. Halla could be worried about whatever corruption was working inside her mind, or she could focus on being attentive towards patrons at the tavern, or she could constantly keep an eye out for Alden, every second of the day. However, she could not do everything. Halla also feared that the Kirin Tor were watching her, even though she had no relation towards them than her being a mage. She was not affiliated with them, but she could see that insignia, that eye, whenever she closed her eyes at the end of the night.

After Aki's appearance, Halla began to feel like there was another person inside her. Someone who could help her make a mana potion, or a potion to keep her awake, or something to help those that were worse off than her in the Lower City. Halla had never been good with potions before, with alchemy. She felt like she was going crazy, and that she was ready to move towards a different city, maybe back to Exodar for a resting period.

"Maybe we should go back home, Aki," she said one night, changing into a fresh set of night clothes. "Maybe all the people here in Shattrath are making us feel like this." She sat down on her bed quickly, mind stretched thin. "Aki, there feels like there's another person inside me. But she's not wanting out. She feels comfortable to guide my hand in all these things. But I want her out." Aki cooed and flew about, hovering near a window to be let out. "Well, I don't know that I want her out. I think she's always been there. How else could I send people to the Caverns?"

Halla stood, moving towards the window and letting him out. Halla didn't know where Aki went when he left, but she knew that it was better for the both of them if she abided by his desires. Aki could come and go as he pleased, and he would provide Halla with company and some kind of solace for Saloris's soul that was embedded inside Halla.

Window opened for Aki's return, Halla turned down the lantern that sat on the table to a soft glow. She moved towards the bed and readied herself for sleep. Tomorrow, there was supposed to be another comedian, someone that Perry Gatner invited. She needed to sleep well in order to arrive on time. Halla was getting better at navigating the streets on the way to work, and she had started to use whatever part of her brain that knew how to teleport more.

In the middle of the night, a loud crash woke Halla. She wasn't sweating, and she hadn't been having a nightmare again. Halla clutched the dagger underneath her pillow, eyes squinting in the dim glow of the time candle. "Who's there? Aki?" she said, voice loud in the quietness of her rented room. There was a shape in the corner, and the lantern was out. In the darkness, Halla could see the glint of a sword along with a faint red glowing around it. Alden.

Her grip grew tighter, but she couldn't do much with a dagger, not like this. Halla released the dagger, letting it fall to the floor. No, she couldn't do much with a dagger, but she was a mage for a reason, wasn't she? She could do a lot of damage on her own, even in close quarters. Halla focused her energy on the Death Knight, speaking words of power and gesturing with her hands. She would freeze him in his place and then . . . and then what? No, she would unleash that rage inside her, that other person, the one that knew too much for Halla to understand. She would let that arcane knowledge overcome her, just for a moment and -

A cold hand covered her mouth, and her hands were in his other hand, and he was so cold, pressed against her in his armor plating. His swords were still sheathed, and Halla could see the glint in Alden's eyes, that hatred, that hunger, and she knew that she was doomed. Doomed doomed doomed.

"None of that now," Alden said, smiling. Even as he spoke, Halla could feel her body clench up. In fear? Or because the side of those runeforged weapons were touching her? Seeping all the warmth from her body, seeping all the energy and the mana out of her. She was scared, and there was no one that could do anything about it because it was already late, and she lived alone, and now she couldn't say anything, not with his hand pressed against her mouth.

It took Halla all of her willpower to focus on him, because he was speaking, talking to her, saying, "You were good for a while with keeping your window closed, and with always being in crowds. It was hard to get a bead on you, you know?" Alden removed his hand from her mouth for a brief moment. However, before Halla could yell out, he was already wrapping a cloth around her head, stuffing the edges of it into her mouth with his one hand. Afterwards, he pulled a small length of rope from a bag he laid on the floor, and she could see the glint of metal, of steel, out of the corner of her eye. All Halla could do was watch him tie her arms and go about removing his armor quietly, which wasn't an easy feat, Halla knew, because armor was clunky and large and heavy. But he moved with such quiet grace that Halla knew this was not his first time.

"But you got sloppy, and you weren't hard to follow back to your home," Alden said, removing his breastplate and placing it on a chair. "You offended me, and I wanted revenge, as the Lich King used to demand of us. And I am hungry. Hungry for death, specifically your death. Because I've killed other refugees, other no-name people on the streets, since then. And nothing has quenched this thirst, this hunger, for your blood to seep into your bed." The bed sank down as he sat down, looking at her with eyes that shone of the undead, light blue all around. Halla shook her head furiously, as Alden was now fully naked and she could see all the scars that crossed his body, and the paleness of his skin, and his intentions other than killing her.

He moved over her, brushing her tendrils away from her face and stroking her cheek, as if he was filled with love. Halla's eyes, unbeknownst to her, were glowing a deep purple, the color of arcane magic, the color that surrounded her dreams. Alden drew back, slightly surprised, as he knew that Halla's usage of magic lay in her words and hand gestures. But the air was heating up around him, sparking off the bed frame and the wooden floor, dark purple and heavy. Halla had no control over what was happening, just that she no longer wanted this, no longer wanted Alden in her room, no longer wanted this bed in Shattrath City, no longer wanted this life. She gave in to that voice inside her, Saloris's voice, and Halla let her take over completely. Her body filled with such warmth that she knew something was happening; it was as if her blood was boiling from the inside. So much so that the entire wall leading out to the city exploded, killing Halla instantly, and causing the purple hue to spread from Halla to the wind, searching for another mage, another soul, another life. Faraway in the depths of the Lower City, Aki let out a screech, aware, again, of the death of his friend, of his master, of Halla.

Alden, covered in ash and pieces of the roof, lay against the far wall, slightly dazed, looking on at Halla's smoldering body. His hunger was not staved by her death. Somewhere out there, Halla still lived, and he would kill her. Again and again.


End file.
